Senior leaders of a struggling Congress and a nervous BJP continued to troop to the AAP on Thursday, the latest being Congress veteran Sanjey Puri, former Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress leader Neena Kapoor and BJP councillor Poonam Bhardwaj.

Other leaders who joined the AAP on Thursday included Bijwasan Narender Jat Rana and Surinder Bhardwaj, who had contested for the BSP and the Samjwadi Party, respectively in the last Assembly polls. From the BJP came Rajesh Kaushik, Usha Malik and Virender Yadav. They follow former BJP MLA and deputy speaker of Delhi assembly Fateh Singh, LJP leader Amanatullah Khan and BSP leader Imran Hussain. The AAP has fielded over 15 recruits from other parties.

“A lot of people in other parties are feeling suffocated The Delhi BJP is going through a phase of infighting and its workers are disgruntled. The gap between the AAP and the BJP in terms of support has never been more. People are choosing the AAP over others in large numbers,” AAP leader Sanjay Singh said.

Of Thursday’s inductions, Puri had already created a storm in his former party. A Congress veteran of 30 years, he had headed the Computer and Research Department head of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. After he quit, the two websites he managed — dpcc.co.in and congresssandesh.com — stopped functioning. While admitting that he was looking after these websites, Puri said the content of these websites will be handed over to the Congress.

The reason he quit was that he was denied a ticket to Janakpuri. “For around a year, I have been working in Janakpuri area. Despite assurances, the Congress did not give me a ticket. I was the only person who could have countered BJP’s Jagdish Mukhi,” he said.

Puri had then announced that he would contest Janakpuri poll as an independent. After deciding to join the AAP, however, Puri has withdrawn his nomination. “Several Congress workers from Janakpuri have joined the AAP along with me. We will campaign for the AAP candidate from Janakpuri and expose Mukhi’s lies,” he said.

Puri said the AAP was the only party that has an agenda for Delhi. “The others, the Congress and the BJP, are just following the AAP’s election agenda,” he said.